Just in Time
by honeycoffeemaker
Summary: Sarada gets thrown back in time by the Ōtsutsuki.
1. The Fall

Chapter 1

They had come back, the aliens that call themselves the Ōtsutsuki. Seemingly they had learnt from their mistakes because this time they had sent someone who actually knew how to fight.  
„You surely have guts, little girl" the alien taunted her. It had her in a chokehold but Sarada did not have the strength to free herself.  
„Are you going to talk me to death?" she said as sarcastic as possible. The wound in her side did not hurt anymore, which was really bad. She had lost a lot of blood already, soon she would pass out.  
„Kill you?" the voice said in mock surprise. „Where would be the fun in that?"  
The hand let go of her neck and she fell.

The fall felt like 30 seconds but the impact was too soft for the time she had fallen.  
Her ears rang and she felt disoriented, nauseated. Sarada closed her eyes as she felt too dizzy to even see her surroundings.  
„Uchiha scum" she heard man's voice say through the ringing in her ears. She turned and saw a man in full armour. It was old fashioned too like she had seen the museum. He had lifted his sword to strike her. She saw the blade move towards her but it was too late.  
Too late for the man that is. The impact sent him flying over the heads of some other men who were fighting each other. She was vaguely aware that they now looked in her direction but all worry was blown away by the pain. Her world shrank to only the piercing heat in her side. It felt like she had a metal ring around her chest that contracted, making it harder and harder to breath.  
„Hey" she heard but barely registered. She was still standing but not for long. All strength left her legs and she fall to her knees. The ringing was louder than ever.  
She heard words but their meaning was lost to her. She looked in the direction of the voice.  
„Dad?" Sarada said weakly.  
Then she did not see anything anymore, could not feel her body any more, not even the pain. Her consciousness faded to nothingness.

* * *

Authors Note:

This fanfic comes with art but ff doesn't do embedded images. If you want to see them you can find them here:

on deviantart under /honeycoffeemaker/gallery/67180828/Just-in-Time


	2. Hospitality

Sarada woke up in a sunbathed room, lying on her back. It took a moment before she felt her body again. The numbness was replaced by a dull pain that was everywhere but more so on her side. Pain was good, it meant that she was still alive. Not something she had expected to be when she lost consciousness.  
She looked around but everything was blurry.  
Her glasses. Where were her glasses? She sat up very slowly and tried to spot her glasses but there was nothing red anywhere to be seen.  
From what she _could_ see, it was a room like she had seen it in some of her friends' houses. In traditional houses. The floor was covered in soft mats and she could feel a slight heat gradient in the floor's heating. Some of the walls were just sliding panels made from paper and wood. In the corner of the room stood a traditional paper lantern.

The quiet noise of wood scraping against wood behind her told her that a door had just open. There had been no footsteps from what she had heard.  
 _Well, someone is light on their feet,_ she thought.  
"You're awake," a voice said. It sounded like a young man and when she turned around to squint at her visitor, she confirmed this by his stature.  
"We need to talk," he said. "But first you should go freshen up."  
"What?"  
"You have been asleep for two days, don't tell me you _don't_ have to take a dump."  
"Two days?!" She exclaimed.  
The second he implied going to the restroom, she also felt that she needed to.  
"Yes, I should "freshen up"."  
"Good."  
She tried to get up but her knees were too weak.  
The man grabbed her arm and pulled her to her feet. Now was the first time the she could actually see his face. He had long dark hair and dark eyes, long eyelashes and full lips.  
"Where are my glasses?"  
"They were broken. I'm sorry."  
"Damn."

"What's your name?" She asked as he led her down the hall way too slowly for her taste.  
"Izuna."  
"Izuna, don't ever talk to me about bodily functions again."  
He laughed and nodded.  
She wanted to ask questions. Most of all she wondered why no one had come to pick her up to bring her to the hospital.  
Maybe the Ōtsutsuki had teleported her far away and no one could feel her -probably very weak- chakra over this distance? She would have to find out where she was and get back to Konoha as fast as possible. Maybe she could still help. Hopefully there still was a Konoha to come back to, said a more pessimistic part of her. Maybe she could get some answers from her host but it would have to wait. For now.

Her host had gotten her something to eat while he heated the bath. With fire. This house must be in the middle of nowhere, if they did not have running hot water.  
The simple food Izuna had brought her was the best thing she had ever eaten. After one bite she felt extremely hungry. Sarada could not remember a time in her life when she had ever been this hungry and she had to restrain herself from just gulping down everything at once.

When she had finished her meal, Izuna had not returned yet, so Sarada had a moment to find out where she was. She got up shakily to go to the slid door where she assumed the outside was. Her legs still felt weak but she managed not to fall.

(Here goes a drawing, again you can find them on my deviantart^^, quick description: A garden in autumn)

The wind was cold and she closed the door again.

Izuna returned soon after with some clothes under his arm. He came over and waited for her to take his hand. For a split second she thought about passing, her pride acting up but it was over as fast as it had come. Sarada took his hand and let him lead her to the bathroom.  
"You haven't asked for my name."  
"I didn't have to, Uchiha Sarada, your name is on your clothes."  
The vest. Right. Her name was embroidered on the inside and the Uchiha symbol on the outside.

She was very relieved to get out of her dirty clothes, and the hot water was truly a blessing. She inspected the wound on her side at the occasion. It was stitched up nicely and already partially healed.  
Someone had to have done multiple healing sessions on her, if it had been only two days.  
The clothes, as it turned out, was a kimono plus the undergarments. Okay, she thought.  
The kimono was dark blue like the one Izuna wore, and it was embroidered with the Uchiha symbol.  
What was the meaning of this? Something about this deeply unsettled her and she just stood there, half-dressed, staring at the fabric. There was only one way to find out what the fuck was going on.

"You have a lot of explaining to do," Izuna told her as they sat down in the room she had woken up in.  
As nice as he had been until now, it seemed like that was over. This was serious business and the hardness in expression made her doubt his friendly act from early.  
He had brought tea and a bundle wrapped in paper.  
He handed Sarada her glasses. They were broken in half, one side was glassless and the other was cracked. She sighed deeply.  
Izuna unwrapped the bundle and took something out. It was her armband.  
"I asked around and someone recognised it as the symbol of the Uzumaki clan of the sea but this," - the Konoha symbol on the inside of her vest- "No one has ever seen it before."  
She blinked and fell into a shocked silence. What?  
"Also," he pulled something else out of the paper bundle. It was her satellite phone! She could call home! Sarada grabbed it out of his hand and flipped it open.  
The screen was slightly cracked and the writing on it said, "No Satellite Connection" in bold letters.  
"What?" She asked quietly. It did not make sense. How could there be no service on this phone? If she was on earth, this thing had to have service.  
"Where am I?" She asked Izuna suddenly.  
"Why are you wearing such a weird combination of symbols? How did you end up on the battlefield? Where are you from?" With each question he leaned closer and lowered his voice. Then they just stared at each other.  
"An answer for an answer?" Izuna suggested. She nodded hesitantly, still trying to make sense of all of this.  
"You are at the clan head's house."  
His questions were much harder answer though.  
"This is my uniform and the symbols are a part of it."  
Her answer was clearly not what want he had wanted to hear and he stared at her as if that would make her elaborate on it, but she said nothing.  
"What about that? What is it?" He pointed to the satellite phone. Sarada was confused by this question. It was obviously a phone, but Izuna did not seem to recognise it.  
"A ... communication device," she said vaguely. What was the meaning of this? There was an answer that would make sense of all of this in her mind but that could not be.  
It was not possible, don't be ridiculous, Sarada, she told herself. _Was it though?_ A part of her thought. _Think about dad's power! How would this be any different?  
_ She had been silent for some time as she tried to figure out what in the world was going on, and Izuna just stared at her.  
He suddenly got up.  
"We should go."  
"What?"  
"The clan head wants to meet you as soon as you're up to it."  
"But-"  
"Come."

Izuna led her to another room.  
"Our guest is awake. Can we come in?" He said to the closed screen.  
"Come in," a voice answered from inside.  
The clan head sat at a table, his eyes fixed on whatever he was writing. Sarada was glad this was the case, because the polite smile she had put on just slid sideways off her face the moment she saw the man. She pulled herself together just in time for him to finish his writing and look up at her.

* * *

 **Authors Note** : Japanese houses don't have that kind of floor heating. Like seriously Japan? The Koreans had it for ages, anyways this house has heating because I say it does XD -signed a who always feels cold.

 _At Princess Sarada Uchiha_ : Thanks! I have not read that story, so I do not know if the stories are similar or not. I haven't settled on a pairing yet tbh.

Also because I'm sure, not everyone looked at the drawings: Sarada here is older and **not** a twelve year old.


	3. Liar

She put on a facade and hoped that he would not notice. Sarada had never seen a photo of him, she was not sure there were photos back in his day, but she had been to The Valley of the End and had seen a gigantic stone statue of him. This man was unmistakably Madara.  
He sized her up and she wanted to run.  
"Sit."  
Izuna nudged her forward and they sat down on two pillows near the dais as Madara took seat in front of them.  
He made her nervous but she did not know if this was just because of the stories she had heard about him or if it was his chakra. Sarada was by no means a great sensor but she could feel him so clearly now that she wondered how she could not have noticed it until now, his chakra felt like a bucket of cold water.  
She got so uncomfortable looking at Madara that she averted her eyes.  
"You should not waste your chakra," he said softly and got up from his place on the dais.  
"What-?"  
"Why do you do that?" He asked as he cupped her cheek and turned her head so that she would face him directly. Only then did Sarada notice what he meant. The second she had seen him she had subconsciously activated her Sharingan.  
 _That was why I saw him so clearly standing at the other side of the room.  
_ "I-I-I have bad eyesight," she stuttered. _Get a grip Sarada_ , she told herself. It seemed people being nervous around him was perfectly normal because his expression of boredom with a pinch of concern did not change.  
"So those were your glasses."  
Sarada nodded.  
"Save your strength, I will sit here." Madara now sat pretty much directly in front of them and she deactivated her Sharingan.  
 _Oh, this is worse_ , she thought and took a shaky breath, trying to keep the panic that had formed a lump in her gut at bay.  
"Tell me, who are you?"  
There it was, the panic. She had known that this question would come, yet she could not give a satisfying answer. Fortunately for her, help came from an unexpected place.  
"Do you remember Kintaro?" Izuna asked.  
"Yes. He died three years ago."  
"Yes. Well, he had an affair with a woman in the south."  
Madara thought about that for a moment and let out a huff.  
"Of course he did," he said, exasperated. "So her?"  
Madara looked at her.  
"Yes," Izuna said from beside her.  
Madara pondered over something, looking into the distance. Whoever that guy was, he must have had more than one affair, if it was this believable that he had a long lost daughter.

"From what I heard, you have quite the punch." Madara's attention was on her again.  
"I do."  
"Show me." There was an almost mad glint in his eyes.  
"She is in no shape to fight you!" Izuna interjected.  
"I didn't say I would fight her," Madara countered.  
Izuna threw him a withering look but Madara got up anyways and pulled Sarada to her feet. She threw an unsure look in Izuna's direction but he seemed resigned and pissed. It looked like there was no way around this.

They went through one of the sliding doors that lead to the garden. The autumn air was a bit warmer than before but it was still cold enough to make her feel uncomfortable.  
"Punch me," Madara said, and now she was sure he was insane.  
"I don't think that's a good idea."  
"Have a nice swing at me." The bored look from before was gone but the excited sparkle in his eyes was far worse. She just knew that she had to do this, he was not the type to take no for answer.  
He leaned forward slightly so his face was level with hers. Sarada hesitantly balled her hand into a fist.  
"Fine."  
She concentrated chakra in her hand and swung.

Sarada had expected him to dodge her punch, but he didn't, and the impact sent him flying. For a second she thought she may have killed him, a hit like that to the face could very well be fatal, then she heard an almost manic laughter. Madara got up and out of the bush he had landed in.  
"Brother!" Izuna shouted angrily as Madara walked back to them. A bruise was already forming on his cheek.  
"That was so reckless." Izuna's face was flushed with anger.  
"Calm down. I'm okay," Madara said as a bit of blood dripped out of his nose.  
He began walking past them, clearly done with the conversation.  
"I don't think your father's widow will be too pleased to have you, so you will stay here," Madara said as an afterthought.  
He went back into his... _office_ , for the lack of a better word.  
Izuna looked pissed and he started walking back, too. Sarada followed him as quickly as she could but he was faster, and still with that unnatural silence.  
"Izuna!" She called after him.  
He paused and turned around, watching her catch up to him.  
"Why did you lie for me?"  
"You should rest now."  
She gave him her best ' _really?_ ' face but he just opened the nearest sliding door. It was her room.  
"I have administrative duties to attend to. Go rest." With that he turned around and left her standing there.

* * *

Authors Note:

At Heart: I didn't see anything, but the ff text editor messes with the formatting ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯

At gohanssjgod: I'm happy that you enjoy the story :)


	4. Cherry Blossom

Her dreamless sleep was over as suddenly as it had come to her the night before.  
Sarada was briefly confused by her surroundings but then the memories gradually came back to her. Meeting the brothers Izuna and Madara. This room in the clan head's house that had been assigned to her.  
"Miss Sarada?" A woman's voice sounded from the direction of the sliding door. So that had woken her up.  
"Yes?"  
The door opened and an elderly woman entered. Her dark hair was mixed with strands of white, and her face was furrowed by the elements and time.  
She wore a red and white kimono that sat perfectly on her thin frame.  
"Breakfast is almost ready, let me help you get dressed." The woman was not very eager, judging by her voice.  
"Who are you?"  
"Akane."  
When Sarada did not move, Akane added,  
"I am the housekeeper, come now."

Sarada was unsure what to make of Akane. After she had washed up the old woman helped her put on the kimono the "proper way". She did not talk much, and her face seemed to be locked in a constant disapproving expression.  
Akane led Sarada to the dinning room where she had waited the day before.  
On their way there, they passed a mirror and her reflection reminded Sarada of that one time she and her parents had go to a formal event. Her mother had worn a traditional kimono with a cherry blossom pattern, and it was one of the happiest memories she had.  
The three of them being together did not happen often but them actually doing things together, that was rare.  
She looked at her mirror image more closely. People always said she looked like her dad but Sarada did not think so. She had his eyes and hair color but her face looked like her mom's.  
 _There is just one thing missing_ , she thought, _then I am truly my mom's off-color clone_.  
Sarada concentrated and formed a few hand seals. Akane was observing her but for her, nothing seemed to have happened.  
"Are you done?" She asked impatiently.  
"Yes, sorry."

They entered the dining room. At the table sat Madara with a cup of tea in hand.  
"Good morning," he said.  
"Good morning." Sarada sat down across from him and helped herself to some tea.  
"Akane, take Sarada to the tailor. She will need a few clothes of her own," he called after the elderly woman as she went to the kitchen.  
"You can't keep wearing Izuna's kimono," he added, addressing Sarada.  
"Oh." Of cause it was one of his kimonos, the color! It was too subdued to be a woman's and he had worn a remarkably similar one.  
"Maybe get her a formal one, too."  
"Very well."  
"Oh and a yukata."  
"And a wig," Akane added bitterly, eyeing Sarada.  
"Now, now, don't be so traditional, old woman," Madara chided her.  
"Under your father this would have been unacceptable," she whispered under her breath.  
"Well _I_ am the clan head now." He had only raised his voice slightly, but Akane seemed frightened.  
"Yes, of course, Madara-sama."  
He gave the old woman a look and said,  
"Bring out the breakfast, I have duties to attend to."  
She went the kitchen and left them to sit in silence.

"Why would I need a wig?" Sarada asked when Akane had brought out the food and Madara seemed less pissed.  
"Akane still has these old-fashioned opinions about cutting hair, but I don't care how you wear yours."  
That did not really clear it up for her, but Sarada did not dare to ask potentially suspicious questions.  
"Where is Izuna? Will he not join us?" She tried to sound as casual as possible. He had just left her without an explanation and she needed to know what was up with him.  
"No, he is out of town."  
Her face must have shown her disappointment because he added, "He will be back tomorrow."

After breakfast, Akane told Sarada that she would take her to the tailor after lunch and that she should go rest.  
"What is it with these people and resting?" She whispered to herself.  
Her room was as she had left it. Pretty empty.  
 _Wait, didn't Izuna bring a package with my stuff yesterday?_ Sarada looked around everywhere but there was nothing to be seen. _Maybe he had taken it at some point?  
_ She didn't feel like lying down. A restless energy inside of her drove her outside.  
Sarada walked around the outside of the house until she saw the front entrance. A wall with a wooden gate that separated the house from the street. Her room was on the far side where the noise did not reach but here she could hear people talking in the distance. Sarada walked over to the gate. It had no lock and she pulled the gate open.  
"Are you leaving too?"  
She almost jumped out of her skin.  
Madara laughed. "I'm sorry, I didn't want to startle you."  
He had changed and looked a lot more official now.  
"Why are you out here any way?" He asked.  
"I was feeling restless," she answered honestly.  
"Let me have a look at you."  
The mystic palms technique always felt weird. She could feel the warmth from Madara's hand on her cheek but also the coolness of the jutsu. After a moment he pulled his hand away.  
"You're still low on chakra. Don't over do it, even if you feel fit, okay?"  
"Yes," she said, "I will try."  
"Good." With that he walked through the entrance and she caught a late glimpse of his face before he closed the gate behind him. His expression was a lot more guarded the moment he was outside.

"Come," Akane said after she had put away the dishes of the lonely lunch Sarada had had by herself.  
Outside the front gate lay a small town with houses and shops lining the street. The clan head's house was the last on the road and it stood a bit apart from the rest of the houses.  
As she followed Akane, she noticed people staring at her. _I guess it's not everyday that a new Uchiha appears out of thin air._

The tailor was a middle-aged man with a well-trimmed beard and long hair that was tied up in an old-timey man bun.  
"Good day, Akane, what can I do for you?" He asked with clearly faked politeness.  
"Nothing for me but for her," she nodded in Sarada's direction.  
"Here." Akane handed him a piece of paper.  
The tailor's brows shot up as he read it, then he asked, "Really? All of this?"  
"Yes."  
"Well, then let's not waste any time," he said cheerfully.  
"What is your name, young woman?" The tailor asked as he took some measurements.  
"Sarada."  
"You're new here, right? Where are you from?"  
"I'm from the south." _Always keep your story consistent_.  
"I see and you are staying with the clan head, very well."  
He put away the measuring band and said, "Please choose from these."  
He showed her a bunch of kimonos but she was not really in the right state of mind to choose clothing right now.  
"I don't know, they are all so pretty. Maybe you can choose for me?"  
"I will put together a selection."  
He began pulling out some of the neatly stacked pieces, placing them on the counter, when one of them caught her eyes.  
She took it out of the shelf. It was made of silk and felt cool against her skin. The cherry blossom pattern was beautiful and it reminded her a lot of her mom.  
It was hard for Sarada not to let her mind spiral into thoughts about the family she will probably never see again.  
"This one," she said softly, handing it over to the tailor. _Get it together, right now is really not a good time to have a breakdown.  
_ Sarada picked out few more pieces with the help of the tailor, while Akane still eyed her from the other side of the room.  
"I will deliver the clothes tomorrow. Thank you for your purchase."

She had not thought about it until they had left the shop, but there was no way this would be cheap. Akane had been silent the whole time. If she had overstepped some boundary the old woman would have said something, right?

* * *

Author's note:

at gohanssjgod : all chapters are approximately the same length but I will try to make them a bit longer XD

Wow this story has hit 500 hit, thank you so much for reading!


	5. Sore spot

Even though it was only late afternoon, Sarada still felt very tired when they got back to the house. Akane had done some shopping of her own after their visit to the tailor and seemed disappointed when Sarada carried the heavy groceries without a problem.  
The old housekeeper did not even try to conceal her aversion towards her. It made Sarada wonder what she had done to the woman to get on her bad side.  
They had just met a few hours ago, so it could not have been something she had done.  
It was possible she had not done anything, but the old woman simply disliked her or maybe she did not like her for some other reason, Sarada could not know. However, Sarada still had to be careful around the housekeeper. Were she to get wind of Sarada's origin, well, let's say there would be any number of bad things that could happen.  
As soon as she had entered her room, Sarada felt exhausted. She had not done anything that would justify being so tired but the thought of sleeping was so tempting and she had not strength left.  
She lied down with the thought of " _just five minutes_ ", but as soon as her head touched the pillow, her mind drifted off into a deep sleep.

 _She was in the kitchen of her mother's apartment._  
 _The stainless steel stove and the white kitchen gave it a very modern feel but she did not know why she suddenly saw that._  
 _It was a lazy Sunday morning and soft sunlight illuminated the wide open space of the room that was living room and kitchen at the same time. Sarada, still in her pjs, wanted to make coffee but the machine had to run a cleaning program. She sighed and watched the hot water running out of the nozzle. Plumes of steam rose up, dancing in the light._  
 _Over the noise of the machine, she heard something. It was her mother, who had just entered the room._  
 _Sakura was already fully dressed and she smiled at her. She was surprised to see that Sarada was awake already._  
 _"Go shower, your dad will be here soon."_  
 _Dad. She felt thrilled; it had been ages since he had come by. Her mother saw her beaming smile and said, "Happy birthday, Sarada."_  
 _"Mom."_  
 _They hugged, and their giddy laughter filled the apartment._  
 _Sarada gathered some clothes and went to the bathroom, a spring in her step. They would go to the city center for breakfast and she could not wait to spend a day with her parents._  
 _She turned on the water and waited for it to get warm, then got in. Even though it was her birthday, she would treat her parents._  
 _My birthday , she thought, which birthday was this ?_  
 _The steady stream of water suddenly went cold._

When she woke up the light was different. It was an overcast autumn morning.  
 _Really, Sarada, have you slept for more than twelve hours_? She thought.  
This was not the worst thing though. Not only had she slept long, but apparently she had slept like the proverbial stone, because there now was a small table in her room. It had her breakfast on it, and a pot of tea was kept warm by a small candle placed underneath it.  
Someone had entered her room, placed the table there and left without her waking up. On a mission this could have been deadly.  
She should have woken up, where were her ninja instincts? She sighed deeply and threw back the covers.  
Sarada wanted to take a bath first and eat afterwards, but found the fire that heated the bathwater was almost burnt down. She put some logs into the fire and went back to her room to have breakfast first while the water was heating up. Bathing in lukewarm water was the last thing she wanted to do right now.

She was almost done with her breakfast when there was a sudden commotion by the front door.  
Sarada went there to see what was happening. Madara joined her in the hallway; the room he came out of appeared to be a bedroom.  
"Good morning," he said. He was visibly amused.  
"Good morning."  
The noise came from the tailor and Akane, who were just loud enough that it could not be classified as shouting.  
"What is the matter?" Madara said.  
"Oh!" The tailor bowed deeply. "Madara-sama, Akane doesn't want to accept the order she placed yesterday."  
"Akane?"  
The housekeeper did not say anything.  
Madara walked towards the tailor and took the scroll out of his hand. He read it but his face did not show any reaction.  
"Mhm, I see." He threw at look at Sarada who felt guilty.  
"It's fine, I accept the order."  
Both Akane and the tailor looked surprised. Madara signed the bill and handed the scroll back to the tailor.  
"Akane, there is an unused chest in the storage room, isn't there?"  
"Yes, Madara-sama."  
"Good." He picked up the bundle and went to Sarada.  
"Follow me."

She followed him to the storage room where he looked around for the chest. The room was filled a wide array of things. Some spare folding screens(paravents), candles and lamps but also some blankets and pillows. Madara had spotted the chest and hauled it to the door.  
"I'm sorry."  
He looked at her in confusion.  
"It was too expensive."  
"Hm, it's fine. Take the chest please."  
She picked it up. The chest was made from massive, heavy wood and it was decorated with intricate designs. Maybe it was an heirloom? It definitely looked like it could be one.  
They brought the stuff to her room.  
"Why are you so lenient with me?" She asked suspiciously.  
"What did you expect?" He asked with a slight mocking undertone as he got closer. "Rags and beatings?" He joked.  
"No, but this generosity. It seems suspicious."  
"Just like you." _Touché_ .  
She did not say anything to that.  
"I don't know what makes you think so little of me." He walked passed her to the door, but he turned back to say, "You know, whatever you have heard about me, it's not true."  
"I have only heard that you are a very good fighter," she said defensively.  
"No, what you have heard is that I'm cruel and unreliable."  
"No-"  
"You think I didn't notice the way you looked at me the first time you saw me? You have heard stories." He seemed agitated now and she did not know how to best deescalate the situation.  
"You're afraid of me," he said, and his anger dissolved from one moment to the other. He sighed, now just looking tired. "Don't be. You're safe in this house, Sarada."  
With that he was gone.

She took her long awaited bath and thought about her previous encounter with Madara. He surely was not the man she had heard about, not yet anyways. Cruel was definitely one of the words she had heard in connection with him, but that was not how she had see him act. Erratic, maybe, but also guarded and tired. Also there was Izuna.  
 _He should be returning soon,_ she thought, _He definitely knows more than he lets on.  
_ Sarada put on one of her new kimonos. She went to the kitchen, made a new pot of tea and sat down on the porch in front of her room.  
The day had shed its grey shell, and now the autumn sun warmed her face.  
 _This could be a nice life_ , she thought, _sitting on the porch and drinking tea_ , but she knew it would not be something she could do all the time. At some point it would be boring to do nothing. What would she do with her life here? Away from everyone she had ever known?

"Oh, new clothes."  
Sarada looked up and saw Izuna walking towards her. He smiled at her.  
"It suits you," he said, grabbing a pillow from her room to sit down beside her. His hair was damp, and she could smell the soap.  
"Thanks," she said. "So you are back?"  
"Yes, I got back an hour ago." There was a short silence.  
"I'm sorry for simply taking off the other day. I was just mad at my brother."  
She merely nodded, that was an explanation but not an excuse. He stared at her forehead for a moment, and she knew that it had just appeared.  
"What is that?" He asked as she touched the skin where she expected the seal to be.  
"A memento."  
Whatever questions he had, Izuna did not ask, instead he nodded and said, "I'm going to go to the capital in three days. I already asked my brother if you could join me."  
"Why would I go to the capital?"  
"To buy new glasses. No one here can make you new ones but the craftsmen of the capital surely can."  
He handed her a piece of paper. The slightly messy handwriting read: "It's dangerous to talk here."  
When she had read it, he took it back and it immediately went up in flames. Sarada looked around, but there was no one to be seen, or heard. She leaned closer and whispered in his ear, "He knows you lied."  
Izuna did not seem surprised. "So he talked to you?"  
"On the first evening, he came by to pull my stitches."  
"Did you tell him anything?"  
She shook her head.  
"Good." He got up. "Try to keep your head down for the next three days, okay?"  
"Okay."

* * *

Author's note:

ff is now up to date! Chapter 6 is almost ready and will be released soon. Big thanks to my beta reader and everyone who has made it this far^^

At icemaxprime : Thank you! I hope you liked this one too^^


	6. Departure

Two of the three days had passed without much hassle.  
Sarada had breakfast with Izuna, because apparently Madara was avoiding her. She did not see him at all. Izuna brought her some books to read and they were all quite ironic, but one of them in particular stood out.  
"This book," she said, waving it at him, "I have read it before."  
It was called " _The Forbidden Seal_ " and it told the story of a shinobi who lost his beloved and tried to prevent her death by transferring his mind into his younger body. No matter what he did, in the end he was unable to save her and had to watch her die again and again. The protagonist had to accept that some events could not be changed.  
"Is the future set in stone?" She whispered into the silence.  
"Who knows?" Izuna's voice was sympathetic.  
"How did you know?" She said looking up from the novel. This was clearly not a coincidence.  
"I had a two day head-start, and it was the only explanation left."  
"I see."

So Sarada spent that day reading up on the history of the Uchiha, while _The Forbidden Seal_ sat in the corner with the other books, making her uneasy.  
Was the future unchangeable and her free will was just an illusion?  
It was most likely that she had no way back to her time, so if she could not even prevent some of the bad stuff from happening in her life, staying here was not that much better either. She did not have the nerves for those kinds of unsettling questions so she tried to distract herself as much as possible.

On the second day she even went out into the woods behind the house to do some light training. When she was younger, she often went into the forests around Konoha to practice and had become very good at navigating through the woods.  
This forest however felt different, less cultivated somehow. In Konoha the forest was a source of income, as the wood was sold to far away regions. Here, nature was left to its own devices.  
She wore her uniform shorts and a long-sleeved shirt. The kimonos were utterly impractical for training (or fighting) and she wondered if Izuna and Madara went to battle with them.  
Sarada could still feel the toll her injuries had taken on her body. She tired easily and had to take more breaks than normal.  
That evening after a quiet dinner with Izuna, she went to bed and fall asleep immediately.

When Sarada woke up, it was still dark outside. She felt like she was starving so she went to the kitchen.  
There was light in the room next door, the dining room, and she heard voices.  
"... accept that order Madara-sama?"  
It was Akane.  
Through the slit between the sliding doors, she could see them sitting at the table. Madara was apparently having a nightcap and the housekeeper sat to his right, facing him.  
"This has bothered you for two days?"  
"That greedy wench only wants to exploit your kindness. Please throw her out."  
He set the cup down with an audible clunk and threw her a look. The old woman pressed her lips together as if she were trying to keep words in.  
"You have always been loyal to this house, why are you like this now, Akane?"  
"She is a foreigner and I don't even think she is an Uchiha, how can you invite her to stay here?"  
Madara lifted the cup to his lips and said, "It doesn't matter whether she is a foreigner or not. I say, she is an Uchiha, so she is."  
"But why invite her to stay here? As the clan head-"  
"As the clan head, I am free to invite anyone to stay in my house as I please."  
His tone made it clear that this was the end of the discussion. Akane now looked very bitter as she watched him drink the contents of the cup. Akane got up and left the room.  
Sarada had forgotten all about food and returned to her room as quietly as possible without being noticed by anyone. Her mind drifted to sleep and the next morning she was not sure if that conversation had truly happened or not.

On the day before their journey, Sarada's training session was unexpectedly interrupted.  
She felt someone coming towards her, and as he got closer she knew who it was.  
"To what do I owe the honour of this visit, clan head?" She asked into the silent forest. He had avoided her for two and a half days, and now he came all the way out here? This wasn't suspicious at all.  
She looked around, but did not see him. Her sensing was not very precise so she could only tell that he was close but she could not pinpoint where he was exactly.  
He was out there somewhere, she was sure of it.  
"Lunch," Madara's voice suddenly said from behind her, and she almost jumped out of her skin. She looked over her shoulder and saw him smirk at the fact that he startled her. Again.  
"Lunch?"  
"Yes, I want you to join me for lunch today."  
Sarada was dumbfounded.  
"What?"  
He just looked utterly amused at her confusion and did not say anything to lessen it.  
"Well, I'm training now."  
"Do you need a sparring partner?"  
"No," she said too quickly.  
"But I haven't broken any of Izuna's bones in years," he said, trying to sell himself as good sparring partner.  
"Let's go and eat something."  
"What about your training?"  
"Now that I think about it, I feel tired," she lied.  
"If you say so."  
They walked back to the house.

Sarada changed into different clothes and found Madara waiting by the dining room.  
He saw her and walked slowly away expecting her to follow. They went to the front gate and Sarada asked, "Where are we going?"  
"We are going out for lunch."  
"Oh."

She followed him through the streets of the small town and everyone bowed and greeted Madara. Now that she thought of it, Sarada had never seen him outside the house, where he seemed to be less the clan head and more his private self. Outside however he was the clan head and she was suddenly aware that she did not know what the protocol was. Like, how was she supposed to address him? Should she walk three steps behind him like she had seen royalty do? No point in asking now, she thought and just followed Madara.

They went to a restaurant at the town square, where the owner greeted them and led them to a room. The walls showed stylized landscapes with flowering trees, and the floor was covered in thick, soft mats. All in all, this restaurant looked like it could be the best one in town.  
 _Why would he take me here?_ She wondered as they sat down at the low table. The owner left and now she was alone with Madara. She definitely preferred being alone with him in the forest over being alone with him here but she was not sure why.  
 _Why didn't I say I'm not hungry?_ She thought.

"Tell me about your life in the South," Madara said after a waiter had brought them tea. At no point had they been asked what they wanted to eat or drink.  
"I lived there with my mother. She is-was a physician."  
 _More like would have been_ , Sarada thought but it was no lie.  
"I didn't really know my dad."  
"Your mother didn't marry anyone?"  
 _She was married_ , was Sarada's first impulse but instead she said, "No, she loved dad."  
"And why did you come here now?"  
Some aliens sent me back in time _wasn't really a reasonable answer, now was it?  
_ "Is this an interrogation or lunch?"  
"Both."  
There was no good way out of this situation. She could not simply run away or not answer. So the only thing she could do was give answers that would not give away too much.  
"I was forced to come here," she said and this was also the truth.  
"Why?"  
"Some people, I don't know who they were, they brought me here but I don't know why."  
He stared at her for a moment, then huffed.  
"You should work on your story because this makes you sound very suspicious.  
"Work on my story?!" She asked, exasperated.  
"May I enter?" the waiter said from behind the sliding door.  
"Come in."  
The waiter brought in the food, which looked like it was everything they had on the menu. She did not feel like eating but extremely hungry at the same time. Madara put a selection on a plate and handed it to her.  
"Be careful of what you say in this town."  
She remembered Izuna saying something similar.  
"Even my influence has boundaries."

That evening, Sarada packed her things. Izuna swung by her room and told her that they would leave after breakfast.  
She had trouble falling asleep and ended up only sleeping fitfully. Not exactly the best preconditions for a long journey.  
After breakfast, Izuna brought her a thick warm coat and they went to the front gate. Madara was there to see them off.  
Izuna hugged his brother and said something to him that she could not hear.  
"Have a safe trip," Madara said as they walked out into the street.  
They left the town and followed a dirt road into the dense forest.  
"We can't make the trip in one day right?" She asked.  
"No, we will spend the night there," he showed her the town on the map.  
"That's pretty far," she said bitterly. In her current condition there was no way she could walk there in one day.  
"When you get tired, I will carry you."  
She frowned at him, and he laughed. "You will have to swallow your pride, because we should not be out here longer than necessary."  
They walked in silence for a while after that. Sarada thought about her injury and suddenly she realised something.  
"Izuna, I had lost a lot of blood. How am I still alive?"  
He looked at her in confusion.  
"Even with the healing jutsus, I shouldn't have survived."  
"Probably, but you had a blood transfusion."  
The thought of getting a blood transfusion outside of a sterile room was terrifying to her.  
"Don't give me that look. You lived!"  
"Who knows for how long," she said, more to herself.  
"We didn't have time to test for your blood type though."  
Izuna had the audacity to laugh at her shocked expression.  
"Stop laughing! I could have died!"  
Her anger seemed to make it even worse because she could see literal tears of laughter in the corner of his eyes.  
She huffed in exasperation. "Are you done?"  
Izuna tried hard to get it together. After taking a few deep breaths, he put his hand on her shoulder. "We have an universal donor and we did test you blood for reactions with the- with my blood."  
"Yours?"  
"Yes. You owe me."  
"What? A litre of blood?"  
"A what?"  
"Nevermind."

"Sarada, I think it's time," Izuna said after she had been walking ever slower for the last thirty minutes or so. She frowned at him.  
They were in the middle of a dense forest, about two hours out of the Uchiha settlement.  
"If you collapse from exhaustion, I will leave you here."  
Sarada just continued walking, ignoring his empty threat.  
"The place we're going to stay at is still two hours away."  
"I have my pride, okay?" Even to her ears, she sounded almost as exhausted as she felt.  
Izuna let out a sigh. "You almost died, you know? It's normal to be-"  
"Weak? A burden?"  
"A bit under the weather."  
She jerked her head to the side to throw him a look but this was a mistake. Her foot got caught on a tree root and she fell.  
Because of her Sharingan she could see it, the split second transition from " _oh no_!" to " _this is my chance_ " on Izuna's face.  
He caught her, and faster than she could protest, he had her in his arms. Almost immediately he began running, ignoring her half-hearted protests. The fatigue got the better of her and she eventually fell asleep.

* * *

Author's Note:

This story has over 1k hits. Thanks! If you have any thoughts about this story, maybe write a review? :)

Big thanks to my beta reader!

At gohanssjgod: thank you!

Because this may confuse people: When writing the "what's the protocol section", I was thinking of Queen Elisabeth and Prince Philip. Because he has a lower status than her, whenever they appear together in public, he always has to walk a few steps behind her.

This chapter took me about two weeks to write, so the next chapters will be less frequent from now on.


	7. Fist Fight in the Side Street

"Sarada."  
It took her a moment before she was really awake. She was still in Izuna's arms but they had stopped and the sun was already low in the sky.  
"Let me down," she said and Izuna obliged.  
They were just outside the city limit and Sarada could see the sign that announced the town's name. She stretched her back.  
"Let go to the ryokan and find a restaurant," Izuna said. He looked tired but tried to hide it as much as possible.

They entered the small town that would be their place for the night. There were only very few people on the street but one or two of them gave them hostile looks. Izuna was unfazed and continued towards a ryokan near the city centre. The main street was lined with gas lamps and she saw a man who began lighting them.  
The guesthouse was a pretty but it could have used some renovation. When they entered it looked like the renovation was already in process, because there were some piles of neatly stacked wood panels on the floor.  
The owner greeted them and looked in his calendar.  
"You have only booked one room, Uchiha-dono," the owner said looking nervously in her direction.  
"There other rooms are being renovated at the moment."  
"That's okay, we will manage just like when we were kids. Isn't that right, little sister?"  
 _Little sister?! Man, that guy is a liar_. Apparently the face she made convinced the man that they were indeed siblings, because he said, "It's the room over there. You have to go somewhere else to eat as the kitchen is closed."  
"Thank you."  
Izuna went to the door and went inside. "Are you coming, little sister?"  
"Yes, big brother," she said sarcastically.  
Sarada closed the door and crossed her arms.  
"Little sister?!"  
"You think you could stay in a room with me otherwise?"  
"Where would be the problem?"  
"Unmarried and unrelated man and woman staying in a room together," he said as if that was an explanation.  
"We are unrelated, aren't we?" He asked.  
She thought about it. When she had been younger, Sarada had read the chronicles about the Uchiha and it had had extensive records of family trees. The clan had consisted of several different families and the family trees were always consulted before a marriage could be approved.  
"I don't think so," she said. Madara did not have children, she knew that for sure. She could not recall Izuna being mentioned, but she did not pay much attention to the family trees that were not her family. Most likely they were not closely related.  
Izuna nodded and started to unpack. Suddenly she could clearly hear his stomach growl and laughed.  
"I think we should eat something before you starve."

After dinner they made a short trip to the bathhouse. When they got back to the ryokan it was dark already. Izuna lit the lamps, washing the room in a dim orange light.  
"Izuna."  
"Hm?"  
"How old are you?" It was a weird question to ask because it should have been one of the first things to be established. Somehow it had not come up yet.  
"Seventeen."  
"Is that so?" She grinned. "Next time it should be _'big sister_ ' then."  
He raised an eyebrow at her.  
"The day I...got sent here was the day before my eighteenth birthday."  
"Hm, that wasn't the best birthday," he said more to himself as he got something out of the chest in the corner.  
"What about-?"  
"Brother?" he guessed "he is nineteen."  
"Oh."  
"He looks older. I know." Izuna furrowed his brows. "This war is draining him."  
Right, there was a war going on, yet she had not seen either of them leave the house in armor.  
"But should you not be there?"  
"There is no fighting in the winter."  
She raised an eyebrow. "And everyone abides to that?"  
"If they have some honor in them, yes."  
"Sarada," he had spread out the blankets and pillows, and was now sitting on the one of them.  
"How did you get here?"  
She sat down on the other blanket. "I did not come here willingly," she said. "There were these...people. They attacked Ko-my home town." Saying the name was probably not a good idea.  
"And these people sent you here? Why? How?"  
"Yes, I don't know, and I don't know."  
Izuna looked into the distance and murmured, "Who could have such a power?"  
He stayed silent and seemed to gauge what the implications of this were.  
"Why is it not safe to talk in..." she did not know the name of the town. "Hm- at your house?"  
He looked at her and frowned. "Brother did become clan head not long ago, and there are some people who are not happy with this."  
"So?"  
"So?" He echoed in an exasperated tone.  
"Like, isn't there a line of succession?"  
Suddenly he smiled, but it looked bitter. "Right, you don't know."  
She looked at him in confusion.  
"Brother didn't become clan head because of some birth right, we are not a monarchy. The elders decided that he would lead the clan but it wasn't a unanimous decision."  
"I see."  
"He can't know about you. Where you came from. If this gets out I will take the blame alone."  
Sarada just stared at him.  
"What?"  
"I'm sorry. It's just," she began, "I don't have siblings."  
"But surely there are some other people in the clan that you are close with."  
"No, there is only me." Izuna's eyes narrowed, and it was too late when she realised that there was too much truth in that.  
"What do you mean there is only you?"  
"I mean that I'm not close with anybody from the clan." Izuna clearly did not buy it.  
"Tell me, do we win the war against the Senjus?"  
She did not answer.  
"Tell me, Sarada."  
"Listen, I can't tell you things about the future because the consequences could be devastating. It could change the future."  
"Maybe you already told me, and the future is unchangeable."  
She went pale. The fact was, she and her parents were the only living Uchiha and if she really was responsible for the disappearance of her clan…  
"Or maybe my actions here will change the future and prevent me from coming in the first place then I will just disappear as if I was never here. Or worse," she added darkly, "I will never have been born."  
They just stared at each other.  
"However that may be, I will not tell you what happens."  
"Do you have no loyalty to your clan?" His reproachful tone made her spiteful.  
"We are no closer than strangers, and I'm not a fucking history book!"  
She got up, threw him an angry look and got out.

...

 _Great_ , she thought as she wandered the streets of the town. _Now I don't have a place to stay tonight_. She sighed, _I should have thrown_ him _out.  
_ There were some bars still open at this hour but she did not have any money.  
 _Maybe I should go back and apologise, even if i was in the right_. She sighed again and turned around.  
"Look what we have here," a voice said.  
"How about a smile, sweetie?" A second man added. The two men blocked her way.  
"How about you go fuck yourself?" She was not in the mood to take any shit from these misogynic idiots.  
"Oh, look who has a big foul mouth!" One of them said. She could sense two more guys hidden in the shadows of a side street. So they were just waiting for someone they could rob. Well, they chose the wrong person.  
"We are not intimidated by your name, little girl."  
"Maybe you should be." A chorus of " _ohh_ "s and laughter followed her statement.  
"I like the feisty ones," the other guy said. "It's much more fun when they fight." He had raised his hand to touch her.  
 _Do it and I will break your hand_ , she thought. Beating up some lowlifes was exactly what she wanted to do now.  
"Boss!" One of the shadow guys cried out, and gestured towards the other side of the street.  
She did not have to look but did it anyways. Izuna leaned casually against the wall, watching the scene unfold. He had left his sword at the ryokan, but that did not mean he was any less dangerous.  
"What is it?" The boss guy asked, immediately defensive.  
"I came to apologise, but I will stay to see how this plays out."  
The boss' face broke into an ugly smile. "So you like to watch, you naughty bastard."  
"I won't stop you," Izuna said.  
The gang thought he was talking to them, but Sarada knew it was directed at her.  
The boss reached out again, still grinning in that heinous way.  
"Your clansman wants to watch, so how about we put on a nice show for him?"  
"Sure."  
She would not mortally injure them, but it would hurt.  
When his hand touched her, she grabbed it and hit his forearm just hard enough to leave small fractures in his bones, but not enough to break them through. An injury like this would take a lot longer to heal than a clean fracture.  
The other three guys now realised their mistake, and all of them went home in the knowledge that a woman had beaten them up with absolutely no effort. The idiots sported a nice array of bruises, broken noses and painful, small fractures.  
They fled as fast as they could into the night.  
She walked over to Izuna, who had not moved from his place by the wall.  
"I'm sorry," he simply said.  
She just nodded and said, "I'm hungry, do you think any of the places here still have food?"

...

In the morning, she woke up to sunlight. She saw Izuna was still asleep but when she sat up, he stirred too. "Good morning."  
His answer was unarticulated, and it was clear that he was not a morning person. They got dressed, and after a good breakfast at a place nearby, Izuna was himself again.  
Suddenly a woman appeared at their table.  
"What are you doing here?" The owner asked, alarmed.  
The woman wore a brightly colored kimono.  
"There is no need for your services here," Izuna said politely.  
But the woman ignored him and just stared at Sarada.  
"Did you beat Daichi's gang up?"  
"Hmm, I beat someone up yesterday," she answered casually.  
"Thank you so much." The woman bowed deeply.  
"Have good journey, Lady Uchiha."  
With that the woman scurried off.  
"What was that all about?" Sarada asked Izuna.  
"Unwelcome customers?" He guessed.  
"Customers?" She echoed before she understood.  
" _Oh_."

...

With a good breakfast in their bellies they left the town and headed towards their destination. The capital city of the Land of Fire.  
"This time, please tell me when you are tired."  
"Yes, yes."  
Izuna gave her a look and she added less sarcastically, "I will."  
The landscape had changed. The deep forests of the Center of the country gave way to vast farmlands.  
Around noon she noticed that the patches of forest that broke up the farms began to dominate the landscape again as the terrain got more uneven.  
They stopped in a town for lunch and afterwards, Sarada swallowed her pride and let Izuna carry her.

...

In the late afternoon Izuna said, "We are almost there. Can you walk the rest?"  
"Yes."  
She had never been to the capital city, and frankly did not know much about it.  
The road climbed up a hill, and in the valley behind it lay the city. It was surrounded by mountains and this road was only one of two that connected the capital to the rest of the country. In the city center, the palace of the feudal lord was visible from their position. The area around it was densely packed with houses. The side of the mountain opposite from their position seemed to be the upper class district, with big house separated by extensive gardens.  
"Has it changed much?" Izuna asked as they walked down the hill.  
"I have never been to the capital." Not this one anyways. When she had been about seven or eight, Konoha had become so important that it became to new capital, with the old capital remaining the seat of the government.  
"Well then, welcome to the biggest city in the Land of Fire."

* * *

 **A/N:** I had a conversation with some friends that also write fanfics and -at least in that group- it was pretty uncommon to plan the story before writing it. So at this point I just want to say, I have planned what going to happen in this story. If I ever feel like I won't it there will definitely be a last chapter that wraps things up


End file.
